Co-pyrolysis of Biomass and Pingshuo Coal

An experimental study on the co-pyrolysis of biomass and Pingshuo coal was performed using temperature programmed thermogravimetric analysis method under atmospheric pressure with nitrogen as balance gas. Pingshuo coal, sawdust and rice straw were chosen for the experiment. The final pyrolysis temperature was designed as 1000 degrees C and the heating rate was chosen as 10 degrees C/min, and the mixture ratio of the biomass and the coal was varied from 0 to 100wt.%. The experimental results indicate that there exist synergetic effects between the biomass and Pingshuo coal during their co-pyrolysis process. When the mixture ratio of the biomass(sawdust and rice straw) is below 50%, the appearance of the biomass promotes Pingshuo coal pyrolysis. It is found that the initial temperature of volatile emission from Pingshuo coal and the temperature corresponding to the maximum pyrolysis conversion rate during the mixture pyrolysis are lower than the temperature of Pingshuo coal pyrolysis. Moreover, compared with the co-pyrolysis of sawdust and Pingshuo coal, the synergetic effects between rice straw and Pingshuo coal are much more obvious. However, when the mixture ratio of the biomass(sawdust and rice straw) is above 50%, the synergetic effects disappear, even the appearance of the biomass restrains Pingshuo coal pyrolysis. In addition, on the co-pyrolysis curves, the temperature range of the biomass(sawdust and rice straw) pyrolysis shifts to high temperature range, however, the temperature range of Pingshuo coal pyrolysis shifts to low temperature range. Thus, it can be deduced that there exist synergetic effects between the biomass and Pingshuo coal during co-pyrolysis.